During Italy's ‘two red years’ (1919–20),
left-wing catholics challenged the authority
of the church and the landowners in large areas of northern Italy. Calling
themselves the estremisti
(the extremists), left catholic unions organized peasants and workers
in land and farm occupations and
encouraged a series of radical strikes. Left catholic leaders became
national figures, in particular Guido
Miglioli at Cremona and Romano Cocchi at Bergamo. This article
examines these innovative
struggles and their troubled relationship with the traditional
socialist Italian left during this turbulent
period. No alliances were formed between the estremisti and the
‘red’ unions until 1921–4, when
fascism was already rampant and the revolutionary wave had
already subsided. The article analyses
why alliances were not built earlier, and why the socialists were so
hostile towards the catholic left.
Both the theory and the practice of the traditional left prevented any
positive appraisal of the
estremisti. In addition, there are detailed accounts of the
extraordinary mass movements inspired by
Cocchi and Miglioli in some of the richest and most staunchly catholic
regions of northern Italy.